came nervously, wondering what had happened to cause him to be summoned into the presence of the second highest in all Mars.
"I see," he said, when everything was explained to him. "Brutes with the intelligence of men. A nasty combination. And they go everywhere through the planet, using caverns that men cannot climb through. You say they are likely to appear anywhere at any moment, in great numbers. Yes, that certainly sounds bad."
"What can be done about it?" Don asked.
"It seems to be more a question of war than of hunting dangerous beasts," the Professor murmured. "The first thing is to find out all we possibly can about them: where their hiding-places are, their headquarters if they have any, their food supplies, their mates and their young. Destroy the tunnels they come through, destroy their food supplies if we can. Destroy their females and their young. Leave poisoned and infected food for them to find. But most of all destroy their sources of food supply. That is the only method with any real hope of success. One cannot have humanitarian scruples in dealing with creatures like that."
"Waugh!" said a harsh voice behind them.
Don turned his head. Four ape-men were standing behind them, in the door way that led to Wimpolo's secret exit. Their bodies were covered with long blue and red hair, and their hands and feet had long curved claws. The Princess' light, flashed momentarily into the traffic tunnel, had shown the way into her private apartments to beastmen lurking there. The safety measures provided for her by her anxious father had proved to be her greatest danger. So busy had the two Earthlings and the Martian Princess been discussing the war that none of them had heard the warning hiss of the snake.
Many things happened in a few moments.
The snake rushed to attack. The Princess' zekolo came from nowhere, shot its arms out of its oystershell.[1] But a black deathray box, swung by an ape-creature, made both the animals stop. They knew the deadly powers of the ray as well as humans did.
Don would have put up a fight, raybox, or no raybox, but he was taken by surprise. He knew that his speed and the agility of his Earth-light body made him a dangerous fighter among the gigantic, slow Martians. Admittedly, four sub-men made a very tough proposition indeed, but all the same he would have tackled them, if he had had a chance to do so. As it was, however, the surprise caught him sitting down, and before he could get to his feet a sweep of an ape's paw knocked him flying through the air.
Wimpolo was seized by the hair by one ape and by an ankle by another. Struggling ineffectually, she was carried through the door almost before Don was on his feet again. The door slammed, and they heard heavy furniture being pushed up against it.
Professor Winterton leaped for the television controls. He sent out an alarm. In a few moments the room was full of Wimpolo's private guards.
"What is the matter? Where is Her Magnificence?"
- ↑ The zekolo has many octopuslike arms within an oysterlike shell. While at rest only the tips of its many lobsterlike pincers are visible. But in action they can be thrust out to great length. Its duty was to guard its mistress as a faithful dog would do. In the underground world of Mars with its many dangerous animals such protection was very necessary, and as a fighting animal the zekolo bad no equal either on Earth or in Mars. Those clashing pincers would have cut a tiger into pieces in a few seconds, while the tiger's claws scratched harmlessly on tough shell and leathery arms.—Ed.
